21 Best CRM Software of 2023 (Compared And Reviewed)

Are you ready to increase sales and nurture happier customers?

All you need is the right CRM software that will help you take care of everything — from managing contacts to following up with your customers and closing sales.

CRM solutions are no longer an afterthought. The demand is huge and companies consider it to be a critical consideration for achieving business success. It’s projected to reach a market size of $113.5 billion by 2027.

If you choose the best CRM software, you can maximize your revenue with less stress.

This is the ultimate guide to the best CRM platforms that are easy to use, integrate with 100s of your favorite platforms & apps, and templates to get you started.

The majority of these CRM software tools come with free trials and affordable plans. Pipedrive, Close CRM, Freshsales, Monday.com, and HubSpot CRM are great examples.

In this guide, you’ll discover:

• What the best CRM software platforms are
• What CRM software really is
• What to consider when choosing CRM software
• How to avoid wasting ‘money’ on CRM platforms that lack essential features
• The benefits of using CRM software to capture, engage, and grow your sales
• And lots more…

If you’re ready, let’s dive right in.

What Are The Best CRM Software?

Here are my top picks for the best CRM software of 2023:

Alright, let’s dive right in. Here’s a breakdown of the 21 best CRM software:

1. Pipedrive

Best CRM software overall

Pipedrive is an all-in-one CRM designed for salespeople. When you’re implementing marketing automation, you’ll want to ensure your data is as organized as possible.

It’s easy to fall behind in your efforts if you don’t have a way to organize your data.

A disorganized system can lead to lost leads and inadequate website optimization.

This can be especially frustrating if you have a limited budget. Thankfully, Pipedrive makes it easy to organize your data.

Key Features

• Lead and pipeline management
• Simple data import and easy customization
• Full email sync with templates and scheduling
• Workflow builder and triggered automation
• One-click calling and call tracking

Pros

• User-friendly and intuitive dashboard
• Easily track deals, values, and close sales
• Create designs with easy-to-use drag-and-drop editor
• Track recurring revenue with custom reports
• Identify and use insights from sales calls, emails, and demos
• Improve sales support with AI assistant

Cons

• Downloading leads is a little cumbersome. With limit support small accounts, it’s hard to get someone to help you.
• The reporting is limited (retention rates and other key metrics are not reported).

Pricing

Pipedrive has 4 plans with flexible pricing to meet your needs.

• Essential ($15/user/month): This Starter plan allows lead, deal, calendar, and pipeline management, 275+ integrations, data import, etc.
• Advanced ($29/user/month): Everything in Essential Plan, plus group emailing, workflow builder, full email sync, etc.
• Professional ($59/user/month): Everything in Advanced Plan, plus one-click calling and call tracking, eSign documents and contracts, revenue projections, and more.
• Enterprise ($119/user/month): Get unlimited user permission, security preferences, no feature usage limits, etc.

Note: You can save up to 17% when you pay annually. Pipderive also comes with a 14-day free trial to get you started at no upfront cost.

2. HubSpot CRM

Best free CRM Software

HubSpot CRM is a powerful sales and marketing tool to grow your business.

When properly integrated into your sales and customer management processes, HubSpot CRM makes it easy to create a custom customer record from the initial contact with your business till they convert.

This software helps you store and track your customer information and makes it accessible with a single click.

You can easily import existing databases to your new HubSpot CRM. You can add deals, contacts, and companies and map out their fields.

You can also manage 1-to-1 communications at a scale and use the conversations tool to follow up with customers.

Key Features

• View your sales pipeline in real-time
• A clean, visual dashboard
• Manage unlimited users, up to 1,000,000 contacts
• Integrate with 1,000+ apps
• Multi-touch revenue attribution

Pros

• Free CRM with essential features to manage your contacts with ease
• HubSpot CRM is easy-to-use and intuitive at best
• Track your sales pipeline in real-time, via a visual dashboard
• You can close more deals with less work
• Schedule meetings for free, set up a live chat, and use email templates for free.

Cons

• HubSpot CRM is not as ‘configurable’ as some CRM tools like Zoho CRM
• The free version has limited features for larger businesses and teams

Pricing

HubSpot CRM comes with 3 CRM Suite Packages and Pricing:

• Starter ($50/month or $45/month billed yearly): This plan gives you sales, customer service, operations software, CMS, and essential marketing tools. It’s limited to 2 paid users.
• Professional $1,780/month or $1,600/month billed yearly): Get advanced marketing, sales, CMS, customer service, and operations software, plus 5 paid users, and more.
• Enterprise ($5,000/month billed yearly): Everything in Professional plan, plus 10,000 contacts, 10 paid users, CMS hub enterprise, and more.

3. Freshsales (formerly Freshworks CRM)

Best sales CRM for businesses

Freshsales allows you to create and send automated email messages to your prospects.

It also offers a 2-way syncing with your email address. You can also create and forward leads directly from your sales email.

Unlike traditional CRM solutions, Freshsales allows you to automate several routine tasks.

Workflows are built into the software and can be configured to trigger certain actions based on conditions.  

Key Features

• Close deals faster with a 360-degree view of your customers
• Streamline your sales process to get better results
• Reduce IT complexity and cost
• Focus on the best leads with Predictive Contact Scoring
• Communicate better across channels – Phone, Email, Chat, and SMS

Pros

• Access complete customer information with 360-degree sales tools
• AI-powered lead scoring and lead management
• An intuitive mobile app to track and follow up with customers on the go
• Easily integrate with a wide array of third-party apps
• Intelligent predictive and real-time insights

Cons

• Larger businesses with huge contact lists will require higher packages that allow unlimited contacts
• Billing is based on the number of users, which means that the cost can add up for larger teams

Pricing

Here’s a breakdown of Freshsales’ pricing and plans:

• Free ($0/user/month): Get started with built-in chat, email, and phone, contact & account management, contact lifecycle stages, and more.
• Growth ($18/user/month or $15/user/month billed yearly): This plan is ideal for growing sales teams. Key features include visual sales pipeline, sales sequences, 2,000 Bot, and more.
• Pro ($47/user/month or $39/user/month billed yearly): Every feature in Growth, plus multiple sales pipelines, time-based workflows, 3,000 Bot, and more.
• Enterprise ($83/user/month or $69/user/month billed yearly): Everything in Pro, plus custom modules, audit logs, 5,000 Bot, and more.

4. ActiveCampaign CRM

Best sales CRM with automation

ActiveCampaign CRM combines email marketing automation and sales CRM to help you manage your customer list and grow sales.

This tool helps you create and manage customer relationships.

Its powerful customer data allows you to conduct detailed analytics and reporting.

You can also run complex multi-step marketing campaigns. It is also affordable, with one of the lowest monthly fees in the CRM industry.

Its easy-to-use interface makes it easy for any user to navigate and learn.

You can even send automated messages through the site or by email.

Key Features

• Automated contact management
• Track customer interaction at every stage of the sales cycle
• Lead scoring: Focus on leads with the potential to become customers
• Connect with Gmail, Outlook, and other email providers to track opens and replies
• Feed your CRM the most up-to-date customer data
• Create and manage tasks, make calls, update deals with CRM for iOS app

Pros

• An intutive drag-and-drop builder with powerful CRM tools
• Customization of fields is very user friendly and intuitive
• Manage your contacts in a central platform (stay organized)
• Easily keep track of leads from the initial contact to conversion
• Easily score leads and focus on leads with potentials to convert
• Notify your sales team with automated sequences

Cons

• The site can sometimes be quite slow
• Tasks cannot be automated outside of deals
• Tags seem to randomly malfunction when sending campaigns

Pricing

ActiveCampaign’s pricing is based on how many contacts you have. There are features for B2C, B2B, and Enterprise. This pricing breakdown (with B2B features) is based on 500 contacts:

• Lite ($15/month or $9/month paid yearly): Import leads from anywhere, sales emails, segmented outreach, lead capture forms, etc.
• Plus ($70/month or $49/month paid yearly): Sales automation, multiple pipelines in the CRM, customizable sales pipelines, lead scoring, plus everything in Lite plan.
• Professional ($187/month or $149/month paid yearly): Everything in Plus plan, plus sales engagement automation, win probability, conversion reporting, etc.
• Enterprise ($323/month or $259/month paid yearly): Everything in Professional plan, plus custom sales reporting, contact enrichment, and custom objects.

5. Monday.com

Best all-in-one sales CRM software

Monday CRM helps you to manage projects, leads, and budgets with ease. You can also track teams and automate follow-ups.

You can keep track of all client activity, including emails, calls, meetings, and demos.

This tool is easy to use and integrates with many other tools, including Gmail and Outlook.

You can assign leads to different departments automatically and create automation to assign and qualify leads.

Besides these, Monday CRM also lets you create custom forms and export them to your email client.

Key Features

• Stay organized with your leads and customers
• Customizable dashboards show an overview of your progress
• Build your workflow with Monday.com building blocks
• Manage your leads and close deals
• Post-sales management and customer support

Pros

• Access 360-degree customer information
• Easy to set up and user-friendly interface
• Excellent and responsive customer support
• Stay organized and get more done with project management tools
• Powerful integrations with your favorite tools (including ActiveCampaign)

Cons

• There’s no chat function for team members to interact with
• It requires a learning curve to create your own workflows (for the first time)
• The mobile version of Monday.com sometimes gets slow, which may cause the screen to freeze for a few seconds

Pricing

Monday.com uses 3 seats as the minimum benchmark for all its paid plans. Here’s a breakdown:

• Individual ($0/free forever): Getting started already? Use this free plan with unlimited plans, unlimited docs, and more. Up to 2 seats allowed.
• Basic ($6/seat/month billed annually): Manage all your teams’ work in one place, with unlimited items, unlimited free viewers, etc.
• Pro ($22/seat/month billed annually): It’s time to run your teams’ complex workflows, create private boards and docs, chart view, and more.
• Enterprise: You’re expected to contact the sales support to get a custom quote. This plan is ideal if your organization is seeking enterprise-grade features.

Note: You’re saving 18% with this annual payment. If you opt to pay monthly instead, expect to pay more.

6. ClickUp

Best CRM app for project management

ClickUp CRM is a software system that allows you to track, manage, and share information between all departments within your company.

It also helps you stay organized in projects, processes, meetings, and documentation.

ClickUp offers many features that can help you manage your customer relationships.

It provides tracking and data visualization, as well as email integration.

You can use it to communicate with colleagues, communicate with clients, and manage projects more efficiently.

Key Features

• Sales pipelines management
• Account and contact management
• Communication tools to streamline sales
• Work smarter with clients with real-time chat
• Centralize customer outreach: Every task from a single hub
• A robust and easy-to-understand dashboard

Pros

• Clean, intuitive user interface
• Clever project management features, functionality, and implementation
• Easily create spaces or folders to manage contacts and files
• You can integrate with 100s of apps
• Plan projects and execute tasks quickly

Cons

• Customizing the dashboard can be a little easier and more intuitive
• It requires a high learning curve. More hands-on demo videos will be great

Pricing

• Free ($0/free forever): 100MB storage, unlimited tasks, unlimited members, and more.
• Unlimited ($9/member/month): Best plan for small teams, unlimited storage, unlimited integrations, form view, etc.
• Business ($19/member/month): Mid-sized teams can benefit from this plan. Get Google SSO, unlimited teams, custom exporting, etc.
• Business Plus ($29/member/month): Multiple teams can use this plan for team sharing, subtasks in multiple lists, custom role creation, etc.
• Enterprise: Contact sales to get a custom quote. Get every feature that ClickUp has to offer.

Note: With ClickUp, you save 45% when you pay annually. Get started with the free-forever plan to test the software before upgrading.